Thursday, May 27, 2010

[RED DEMOCRATICA] Business this week: 22nd - 28th May 2010

 


Click Here!




Thursday May 27th 2010 Subscribe now! | E-mail & Mobile Editions | Feedback


Visit The Economist online
OPINION
WORLD
BUSINESS
FINANCE
SCIENCE
PEOPLE
BOOKS & ARTS
MARKETS
DIVERSIONS


Full contents
Past issues
Subscribe


Economist.com now offers more free articles.



Click Here!

Business this week | The Economist online
Business this week
May 27th 2010
From The Economist print edition



Investor concerns about the euro area turned to Spain when the country’s central bank took control of CajaSur, a small, troubled savings bank based in Córdoba. Spain’s cajas account for almost half of its banking system and have been hit by the collapse in property prices. After the Bank of Spain’s intervention, yields on Spanish government bonds rose, making it more expensive to finance public borrowing. Separately, the IMF said Spain should conduct a “radical overhaul” of labour laws and carry out “bold” pension reforms, warning that “time is of the essence”. See article

Global stockmarkets took another battering and remained volatile, partly because of fears about euro-zone debt and increased tensions between North and South Korea. The S&P 500 index was some 10% lower than its level at the beginning of May; the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed below the 10,000 mark for the first time since February; and the FTSE 100 finished below 5,000 for the first time since October.


The OECD raised its forecast for global economic growth to 4.6% in 2010 and 4.5% in 2011. GDP in the euro area was also projected to expand at a faster rate, of 1.2% this year and 1.8% next. The OECD also said that as America’s economy is in recovery it should not delay raising interest rates beyond the last quarter of 2010. But the organisation urged rich countries to cut public spending and raise taxes soon to avoid a budget crisis. See article

The European Commission officially unveiled a scheme to insure against bank crises in member states, funded by a levy on financial institutions. Britain and France remain opposed to a European-wide levy. Britain’s Treasury will put forward its plan for a tax on British banks in a budget in June, which is when European finance ministers will debate the commission’s scheme. See article

The German finance ministry said it wanted to extend a ban on naked short-selling to include German stocks and euro derivatives. Germany’s unilateral intent to curb speculative trading, which it partially blames for causing market turmoil over the euro, has unsettled its European partners.

Informal negotiations began on Capitol Hill to reconcile the House and Senate versions of legislation that will bring in the most sweeping reforms to financial regulation since the 1930s. On May 20th the Senate passed its bill, which includes a controversial amendment requiring banks to spin off their derivatives businesses; the House bill does not contain that measure.

Meanwhile, Ben Bernanke, chairman of America’s Federal Reserve, used a speech at the Bank of Japan to insist that central banks work better at managing the economy if left free from political influence. The Fed is opposed to a measure in the House finance bill that would give Congress’s investigative arm the power to audit its decisions.

America’s Financial Accounting Standards Board proposed an overhaul of the way banks report loans on their sheets, by linking them more firmly to market valuations. Many retail banks, such as Bank of America and Citigroup, currently do not “mark to market” trillions of dollars in loans and securities. Critics say the practice, also known as fair-value accounting, overstates losses. See article



After a growing backlash about the public availability of users’ personal information, Facebook said it would simplify privacy controls on its website and allow users to turn off all third-party services. Some prominent tech bloggers had switched off their accounts because of the complexity of keeping information private. Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s chief executive, admitted Facebook had “missed the mark”.

Google made public its policy on how it splits advertising revenue with most website publishers, revealing that they receive 68% of the proceeds from Google’s content ads and 51% from search ads. Big media companies negotiate their cut individually. Separately, Google claimed its business generated $54 billion in total economic activity in America last year.

Inquiries began into a spate of factory-worker suicides at Foxconn’s industrial park in Shenzhen, where the Taiwanese firm assembles products for tech companies. Chinese labour activists blamed low wages and long hours for the deaths and mooted a campaign to boycott the iPhone, which is made at the factory. Foxconn, the world’s largest electronics contract manufacturer, defended its treatment of the 300,000 workers there. See article

In the week that the iPad was set to go on sale outside the United States, Apple overtook Microsoft as the world’s biggest tech company on May 26th, based on market value. Apple’s fans hailed the success of a firm that many had written off in the mid-1980s.

Dell took the wraps off its new mini tablet-computer. The Streak operates on Google’s Android platform, has a five-inch (13cm) screen, which is half the size of the iPad’s, and a camera, a function that is not included on Apple’s device. Dell will launch its gizmo in Britain in June and in America later during the summer.

As the oil slick off America’s Gulf Coast washed ashore, BP made yet another attempt to plug the gushing underwater pipeline that has caused the disaster. Barack Obama prepared to travel to the region to view the clean up, and to announce new restrictions on oil drilling.


India’s warring Ambani brothers made peace and scrapped their “non-compete” arrangement, under which the assets of their late father’s Reliance empire were split. After Dhirubhai Ambani’s death, Mukesh and Anil Ambani fought over the Reliance companies, with Mukesh eventually dashing an attempt by Anil’s Reliance Communications to merge with South Africa’s MTN in 2008. After their accord was announced, share prices in Reliance companies soared.


British Airways’ flights were disrupted as cabin crews went on strike again. A study by researchers at Manchester Business School estimated that industrial action could end up costing BA £1.4 billion ($2 billion). The carrier earlier reported an annual pre-tax loss of £531m, its worse since privatisation in 1987.


Click Here!

Click Here!

Customer service

To change your subscription settings or to unsubscribe please click here, (you may need to log in) and select the newsletters you wish to unsubscribe from.

As a registered user of The Economist online, you can sign up for additional newsletters or change your e-mail address by amending your details.

If you received this newsletter from a friend and you would like to subscribe to The Economist online's wide range of newsletters, please go to the The Economist online registration page and fill out the registration form.

This mail has been sent to: eleccion@yahoogroups.com

Questions? Comments? Use this form to contact The Economist online staff. Replies to this e-mail will not reach us.


GO TO THE ECONOMIST ONLINE

Copyright © The Economist Newspaper Limited 2010. All rights reserved.
Advertising info | Legal disclaimer | Privacy Policy | Terms Conditions | Help


An Economist Group business
The Economist Newspaper Limited
Registered in England and Wales. No.236383
VAT no: GB 340 436 876
Registered office: 25 St James's Street, London, SW1A 1HG




__._,_.___
Recent Activity:
Red Democratica 10 years "On line" (1998-2008)!
Http://reddemocratica.blogspot.com
Boletin Diario :
Http://reddemocratica01.blogspot.com
Foro Debate :
Http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eleccion

Ahora en FACEBOOK : Red Democratica

Http://www.caretas.com.pe/2000/1631/articulos/protesta.phtml
Http://www.caretas.com.pe/2000/1612/articulos/debate.phtml

Celebrando 10 anos "On Line"..2009

Keep the candle burning

I have a dream
http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/about_king/interactiveFrame.htm

FORUM TPSIPOL: RED DEMOCRATICA (1998-1999).
Informacion : Http://tpsipol.home-page.org

Para enviar un message , enviar a: eleccion@yahoogroups.com
Para suscribirse al Forum , enviar un mensaje a : eleccion-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Para salir del Forum, enviar un mensaje en blanco : eleccion-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
.

__,_._,___

No comments:

Post a Comment